One Phone Call Away
by what a feeling
Summary: Whoever said long distance relationships were romantic had no idea what they're talking about. Percabeth one shot. Complete


Annabeth stares at her phone miserably.

" _Annabeth_." Rachel says. She reaches over and snatches her phone straight out of her hands. Annabeth tries to grab it back, but Rachel is too quick. "Stop doing this to yourself." She chastises.

"She's right." Silena nods sagely. "Sunday brunch is our thing. I can't have _Percy Jackson_ ruining that for me."

Annabeth sighs, putting her head down on the table. Then it occurs to her that it may mess up her makeup- Something she spent a good forty minutes on- and sits up.

"Okay, fine." She says. "What were you saying?"

"Just that my boss is a real piece of work." Rachel says. She pulls a face. "She's not got the slightest clue what it means to restore art, runs the place like it's a circus. Yesterday she called me to tell me she'd forgotten to file for a grant and wanted me to fix it. The deadline was last _Friday_."

"I think you should just quit." Silena says. She stirs her drink pensively. "You've never even particularly liked art restoration. You called it boring."

"She's got a point." Clarisse says. "Besides, I go to the gym with this lady, Janet something. She's the principal at Learning Ranch. It's this 'alternative'" She makes air quotes with her hands. "school. They're looking for an art teacher. You'd fit right in."

Rachel looks at Clarisse. "You know Janet Hanes?" She asks. "Learning Ranch is famous. And they have an art opening? Schools like those actually encourage students to think of art as a way of expressing them. Do you think you could get me an introduction?"

Annabeth is happy for Rachel. Really, she is- that conflict got resolved really fast. Her own personal conflict, however, was a whole new story. She wants her phone back- She'd found some peace in staring at it, waiting in vain for it to light up.

And then- And then, miraculously, it lights up in Rachel's hand, and Annabeth thinks she's going to pass out in anticipation.

"Rach, I need my phone!" She cries, but the buzzing has already stopped. She realizes too late it's only a text message. Rachel frowns and looks down, reading it. Her face drops a little, and she hands it to Annabeth wordlessly.

The text was only two words:

 _Rain check_?

And it broke Annabeth's heart. It's stupid, she thinks- She really shouldn't be so close to tears because Percy's busy. All her life, she'd only wanted the greatest things for him. Nobody had been prouder or happier than her when he'd finally signed a record deal, or when he'd gone platinum or triple platinum after that.

She was so happy for his success. So, so incredibly proud of him. Then why was she so upset that he was touring Japan? She'd known before he left that she wouldn't be able to talk to him, what with the full-to-the-brim itinerary the band's agents had planned for them, not to mention the thirteen-hour time difference.

Still, it had been three days since she last had a full conversation with him and it was driving her insane. She misses him more than she could ever describe- Percy was first and foremost her best friend, and when you live with your best friend, it becomes impossible to go a day without them. Take it from her.

"Annabeth," Rachel says. She's watching her with pity. "I'm only saying this because I care about you."

But Annabeth knows what Rachel's going to say. She's heard it before. At least thirty times when he's let her down like this on tour.

"You deserve someone who's going to be there." Rachel says gently. Annabeth doesn't want to hear it. She knows Percy better than anybody else. He would always be there for her, no matter what. She's the one who's constantly telling him he doesn't have to be, so he can focus on his music. She would never take that away from him.

"She's got a point." Clarisse says. Clarisse, who usually never interferes in anyone's lives, felt the need to agree with Rachel. "I mean the guy's almost never home, and this long distance thing will only work if there's equal participation. He's blown you off so many times, just this tour."

Silena looks between them. "Is nobody going to say it?" She asks, looking accusatorily at Clarisse and Rachel. They both stare at the table, and Silena sighs.

"Annabeth, I know this is hard to hear," Silena says. Her voice is hard and cold and not at _all_ comforting. "But you need to consider this. What if there's something he doesn't want you to see?"

"What are you saying?"

"What if there's someone else?" Silena asks. "What then? You don't want to be caught off guard like that."

"Percy would never." There is nothing Annabeth is more sure of.

"Every girl thinks that." Silena shrugs. "Just know we're here to pick up the pieces."

"I need to go." Annabeth says, standing up.

She leaves the table and doesn't once look back. They're all wrong, she thinks. They don't know her relationship with Percy. Silena and Beckendorf and Clarisse and Chris- they see each other every day. They don't get what she has with Percy.

Still, some part of her is jealous of them.

Annabeth doesn't remember the last time she'd been able to touch her boyfriend. She's forgotten what cologne he had on the morning he left on tour. There are some things FaceTime just doesn't do justice to- Like the husky sound he makes before he laughs, or the way his eyes sparkle when he's telling a joke. Silena and Clarisse have those. They get to see their husbands, touch them, smell them.

All she gets are pixels and frozen frames.

It's so _difficult_ , she thinks. To love someone who's always so far away from her. The thought brings tears to her eyes. It isn't fair that she has to go through this, that she has to deal with her own friends suggesting she leave him- When everybody around her seems to be in happy relationships.

She sits down in front of the pond she used to come to with Percy when they were teenagers and so stupidly in love.

And that's what they are- Annabeth and Percy are so deeply, freely, stupidly, _insanely_ in love. It gives her the strength to see this lifetime through. She wonders if Silena feels like this. If she would, blindly and without question, follow Beckendorf into the depths of hell if he asked. She asks herself if Clarisse would take a knife to the heart for nothing but a smile on Chris' face.

Because she would do all of that- and more- for Percy. She's been told it's 'toxic', 'unhealthy'.

It isn't, though. It's an idea- An idea that there's nothing in this entire universe that could make Annabeth love Percy less. She can expect the same from him, as he's come to show her. And what's wrong with that? What's wrong with giving someone your whole heart- _despite_ the fear and insecurity that it comes with?

Annabeth had given Percy her heart and her soul- The good, the bad and the ugly- And he's never once given her reason to question that. Her friends may question it, and to that she says 'fuck you', but it's not a problem for them to deal with.

There are some days she just really misses Percy- and today just so happens to be one of them. Every bone in her body aches for his touch, her entire being _burns_ to see his face. She wonders if anyone's ever died from missing someone before, or if she'll be the first.

Percy finally calls her on Tuesday, when she's halfway through a meeting with a client. She sees his name pop up on her screen and jumps to her feet. She apologizes to Mr. Edwards, telling him she really needs to take it and leaves him in her office.

"Percy?" She answers, heart hammering against her chest. She hears a bunch of people in the background. And then she hears the single most extraordinary word.

"Annabeth?" Percy asks, and her face hurts from smiling so widely. "You there? Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah- I'm right here." She hopes he can't hear her voice break.

"Hey! I'm so sorry I've been so busy." Percy says. "How've you been?"

"I'm okay, now." Annabeth says. Hearing him is like a breath of fresh air in her lungs. She feels like she can do anything in the world.

"Were you not earlier on?" She imagines Percy's brows stitching together in concern.

"How's Kyoto?" She asks instead of answering.

Percy tells her then. He tells her about how he's been unable to sit in one place for more than five minutes, how he'd been searching everywhere for any sort of connectivity, and then talks for a good three minutes about how ridiculous it is that a city as big as Kyoto makes making a single phone call so difficult.

Annabeth listens to him. Every word. She tries to memorize the way he enunciates his words, how his speech picks up speed when he's excited. She closes her eyes and imagines he's sat in front of her on her couch, gesturing wildly the way he does, running his hand through his hair every two minutes.

Then she tells him about work- About the projects she's working on, how she envisions Grant Edwards' new home. She tells him about how a group of girls came up to her sometime last week and asked her if she was his girlfriend, and that they'd seen her in his Snapchats. She fills him in on Rachel's interview for Learning Barn and talks about the weather. She leaves no thought she's had in the last six days behind, and Percy listens to her.

"I miss you so much." He says quietly. "I really, really needed this today."

"Me too." Annabeth says. There's a long pause.

"I'm so sick of this." Percy says. "This life. All I want is to be home, with you."

"This is your dream, Perce." Annabeth says. Her words are against everything she's feeling, but she'll be damned if Percy lets this all go for her.

"No it's not." Percy says. "My dream came true on my sixteenth birthday when I kissed you in Tristan McLean's pool."

"Your dream was to break into a celebrity's house and then get caught and subsequently grounded for, what was it, three months each?"

Percy lets out a laugh. "That was on my bucket list." He says. "Top five things to do before I die."

There's another pause. "My dream was to have a future with you." Percy says. "And now I'm on the other side of the world."

Annabeth is crying now. She'd held it together for long enough- Now she lets the tears fall.

"Twelve days more, right?" She asks shakily.

"Twelve days." Percy agrees.

"I love you."

"And I love you."

Annabeth hangs up and takes a deep breath. Twelve days. She could get through this.

That's four difficult days before Percy calls her again.


End file.
